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The Southeast Regional Sting Project (SRSP) was an 11 month long multi-agency undercover task force aimed at penetrating the stolen property network in the southern California area. Four law enforcement agencies participated in the program, including the Hawaiian Gardens, Cypress and Long Beach State University Police Departments and the United States Secret Service. Funding was provided, in part, by the Secret Service and the National Insurance Crime Bureau. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office participated by filing cases and providing technical legal advice.
The project centered around undercover officers who posed as receivers of stolen property. The officers worked out of a business front known as GSR. This was a phony electronics’ repair shop established as an obvious front for illegal activity.
The task force conducted over 70 transactions with suspects in which stolen property was obtained. A total of $329,223.00 dollars worth of stolen property was recovered for a return of1.7 cents on the dollar for buy funds expended. Items purchased included stolen and cloned cellular telephones, stolen vehicles and parts, an entire tractor-trailer rig containing brand new Honda parts, keys and access codes to numerous auto dealerships (which prevented the potential theft of hundreds of new automobiles from dealer lots), cameras, CD players, car stereos, computers, jewelry and other items too numerous to mention. Honda Corporation estimates that $20 million of vehicle inventory was at risk prior to the purchase of the keys and access codes.
The undercover officers were successful in having professional loners bring their equipment to the storefront and actually demonstrate their trade for the cameras. The officers purchased phony identification from street merchants and obtained a telephone-dialing device allowing the free (and fraudulent) use of pay phones.
Many (approximately 1/3 to ½) of the suspects dealt with were armed. The officer’s turned down an offer by one thief to murder his potential victim in order to obtain the stolen property he was targeting. Some of the property obtained came from carjackings and takeover robberies.
By project’s end it is anticipated that as many as 40 suspects will have been arrested. Several have already been arrested during the course of the project and have received state prison sentences of two years each.
The arrests represent nearly 60 felony counts including burglary, receiving stolen property, auto theft, cloning and grand theft. Approximately 95 percent of those arrested have prior arrest records.
Nearly every transaction was videotaped and it is anticipated that 98 percent or more of these suspects will be convicted.
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